


Locked down with you ain't so bad

by Rionaa



Series: Zukk-quarantine [1]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Based on True Events, Bisexual Sokka (Avatar), Coronavirus, Don't worry I promise it's a zukka fic, Established Yue/Sokka, F/F, Friends to Lovers, Getting Together, I love Yue sm and this isn't her but it isn't Suki either, I'm gay, I'm sorry i did Yue dirty here, M/M, Nonbinary Character, Other, Pals this happened to me, Quarantine, Trans Haru, Trans Male Character, Zukka Endgame, aro-ace Toph, lockdown - Freeform, nonbinary toph, queerplatonic Toph/Haru
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-05
Updated: 2020-10-05
Packaged: 2021-03-07 16:28:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,973
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26830684
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rionaa/pseuds/Rionaa
Summary: It would never have happened if it hadn't been for a global pandemic.
Relationships: Aang/Katara (Avatar), Bato/Hakoda (Avatar), Sokka/Yue (Avatar), Sokka/Zuko (Avatar), Suki/Yue (if you squint), Toph Beifong/Haru (Avatar)
Series: Zukk-quarantine [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1961302
Comments: 34
Kudos: 211





	Locked down with you ain't so bad

**Author's Note:**

> Me over the summer, reading fanfiction: oh all these quarantine fics are totally unrealistic and frankly a little cheesy, but I will read them anyway for that sweet serotonin
> 
> Me, approximately one week into the start of term: oh 🥺
> 
> Anyway this is based heavily on real life
> 
> Dedicated to the various Zukka discord servers who allowed me to scream at them when this happened to me
> 
> Also disclaimer: I live in the UK so most of this is based on the way the British government handled coronavirus and there are definitely some things I missed when I was editing! (Please note and appreciate that I used the term "Jello" instead of jelly, this caused me physical pain)

Sokka wasn't sure when he first started having feelings for his best friend, but it was probably around the time they spent four months living together with very little contact with anyone else.

When the announcement came that the country was going on lockdown, Sokka knew pretty quickly that he would be staying in his student house until the lease was up. The uni had offered early termination of accommodation contracts for any student who decided to go home as a result of COVID-19, but Zuko didn't want to go home just yet, and Sokka couldn't leave him on his own. If he was being honest, Sokka could think of better ways to spend an indeterminate amount of time than locked up in close quarters with his dad and his sister, even if Aang was staying with them for the duration. So when Zuko had said that he was considering staying in their house, Sokka had said that he was too, and that was that.

At first, it hadn't been too bad. Their other housemate Jet had left almost as soon as possible, which had been a huge relief to both of them. Jet had been an inconsiderate housemate, and very bad at social distancing protocol, so when he cleared out, both of them had breathed a sigh of relief. And then they had the house to themselves.

Sokka had taken up knitting, and spent two afternoons a week on video call with Aang trying patiently to teach him how to untangle all the knots he invariably managed to create. Zuko, on the other hand, had decided to make bread. In the absence of any yeast in the shops, he had made a sourdough starter, and fed it fresh flour and water every morning. Sokka tried not to be in the kitchen when Zuko was feeding the starter (which he had named Druk) because the smell was awful. However, after about a week of this Zuko discovered that he could use the excess dough to make crumpets, at which point Sokka made a very deliberate effort to be in the kitchen.

Once Sokka finished his first attempt at knitting (it was supposed to be a scarf, but Aang said it was probably more use as a piece of modern art, and left it at that), he decided to find a new hobby. Zuko had offered him some offcuts from his succulent garden, which Sokka had accepted with delight. He had helped Zuko plant the cuttings in slushie cups and arranged them on his windowsill. Zuko told him he didn't have to water them daily, but Sokka was nothing if not an attentive plant dad. Plus, he was bored.

Online classes as a concept daunted Sokka. His ADHD made it difficult to concentrate in class at the best of times, how was he supposed to self regulate when he had literally nothing to mark any time or any day from any other? He attended all of the online seminars, but he found himself falling way behind with assignments. 

When he realised the day before a deadline that he had forgotten all about one of the essays, he emailed professor Piandao to ask for an extension.

"Hi Piandao,

I'm really sorry, but due to the current situation, I have been unable to complete the assignment for tomorrow. Could you let me know if there is anything I can do to still pass the unit?"

After he pressed send, Sokka checked the time and realised with a sinking heart that it was just gone two in the morning. There was no way he would be able to get this essay in, and then he would fail the unit and probably have to retake the entire year-

"Hi Sokka,

No problem. Have passed this on to the department manager. Best of luck with the essay.

Piandao."

Well, he supposed it wasn't only him who was experiencing displacement from time.

He knew at least that Zuko was faring better in that area than he was. Zuko rose early every morning, and made an effort to go outside every day. Sokka was lucky if he made it outside once a week, and that was usually on the way to and from the laundry block. He knew that Zuko had routine drilled into him from an early age, but he couldn't help but be a little jealous of his friend's capability for regular schedules. Sokka, on the other hand, was easily becoming entirely nocturnal.

On one memorable occasion, he had bumped into Zuko in the kitchen at 10 o'clock at night, who had been preparing himself a cup of soothing tea, ready to go to bed. Meanwhile Sokka had been eating cereal for breakfast, having only just woken up. Zuko had just stared at him, a mixture of amused exasperation and concern on his face.

That's not to say they never saw each other though. Sokka had introduced Zuko to the wonders of Jello shots, and the two of them had spent many evenings laughing over nothing in the kitchen, or watching bootleg versions of Shakespeare's Globe On Screen at Zuko's request. Sokka wouldn't have said so, but those nights were secretly his favourite, because he got to watch Zuko get so entranced by something he was passionate about, and because they spent the entire time snuggled up together, Sokka's arm around Zuko's shoulders.

Sokka also spent a lot of time talking to Yue. The two of them had been together most of the way through high school, but they had gone to university at opposite ends of the country. Sokka found that he didn't mind the distance, but Yue found it hard. She was also staying in her house away from her family, with her friends from uni, so it wasn't like she was alone or touch starved. Their school friend Suki had gone to uni with Yue, and Sokka knew that the two of them were close in much the same way that he and Zuko were. But Yue missed him, and Sokka realised that while he missed her, of course he did, he wasn't anywhere near as upset at the distance as she was. And that realisation stung.

One night, after maybe a few too many jello shots, both boys sitting on the kitchen counter, Sokka's arm around Zuko's shoulders who was leaning heavily into his side, Sokka asked a question. 

"Do you think if I wasn't with Yue, you and I would be together?"

Zuko stiffened against his side, his heart, which had been slow and relaxed before, suddenly beating a mile a minute. He pulled away, his eyes flicking up to meet Sokka's before starting away again and avoiding looking at him. "I don't know."

"Hey, I-"

"Do we have any more Jello?"

"Uhh, I think so, not made up though."

"That's fine. I was just worried we'd run out, and I know you'll want to make some more shots soon."

"Yeah…" Sokka blinked and hopped down from the counter to fetch a glass of water. He didn't stop thinking about Zuko's reaction.

Sokka and Yue got into a fight. If he was being honest, it wasn't much of a fight at all. He wasn't even sure how it started. Sokka knew that he hadn't been paying her enough attention, he hadn't been able to get out of his own head lately but he still owed her the reassurance that he cared about her, so when she phoned him, and they were both a little drunk, to tell him that she felt that he didn't love her anymore, he asked if she was breaking up with him. 

She went very quiet. "I don't know." 

"Okay."

"I don't want to."

"You do what you have to. If staying with me is going to damage your mental health, then you should break up with me."

In the end, they stayed together, but Sokka wasn't sure if he was glad or disappointed.

Zuko was sympathetic, offering Sokka cups of tea, someone to talk to, projects to distract himself with, and Sokka was more grateful than he could put words to.

Eventually, of course, the lease on the house ran out. Sokka's dad came to pick him up, and all of his stuff, but he left Zuko behind. Zuko's uncle was coming to get him the next day, but Sokka still felt a wave of guilt as he hugged Zuko goodbye for the summer.

Being home was surreal. Sokka hadn't realised how much he had missed it, being with his family once again. Katara had hugged him for a long time when he got back, and Aang had talked his ear off excitedly about all the things he had found to fill his time with over lockdown and how he couldn't wait to show Sokka all of his completed projects. There was even a surprise waiting for him in the form of a familiar pride flag hanging up in the living room and a sheepish explanation from his dad that he was in a relationship with his best friend. Sokka had grinned and hugged Bato too. Hakoda told him that if it hadn't been for Sokka coming out as bi himself a couple of years ago, he never would have found the words to help himself come to terms with his feelings. Sokka may have cried a little at that.

So yeah, it was good to be home. But that didn't mean he didn't miss Zuko like hell.

The two of them wrote letters to each other; actual, real letters, with a pen and paper, through the mail. They also talked a lot online, which somewhat defeated the point of the letters, but when Sokka opened one from Zuko to find a bag of his favourite type of tea and a tiny origami dragon, he figured it was well worth it.

Yue moved back in with her parents the week after Sokka did. After two weeks were up, Sokka begged Hakoda to let her come stay with them for a little while. It didn't take much convincing. Sokka's family loved Yue almost as much as he did, and he knew that her home was a toxic place for her to be. When he told her that she was invited to quarantine with them for a few weeks, she had her bags packed almost straight away.

Being back together with Yue was… amazing. They had always worked well together, and while being apart was difficult, seeing each other in person always made it better again. Sokka pulled his girlfriend into his arms and kissed her so that she melted into his embrace, and pushed down the tiny part of his mind that told him there was something different this time.

Yue stayed with Sokka's family for almost a month. She had got a job as a social media campaigns manager for a local arts festival, and was running online advertising and campaigns, but the internet connection at Sokka's house way out in the middle of nowhere just couldn't support the bandwidth she needed for zoom calls, so eventually, her dad came to pick her up. Sokka kissed her goodbye and wondered if he should break up with her.

In the end, it was Yue who broke up with him. She didn't feel like their relationship was going to be good for her in the long run. He had to agree. They could have stayed together, but they would have ended up resenting each other.

"I'm sorry." He told her.

"I'm sorry too."

"Maybe, in a while, we could be friends again?"

"I'd like that."

"I love you…"

"I love you too."

When he messaged his friends' group chat to let them know what had happened, they all offered sympathy and support, but Sokka didn't think he needed it. He was sad, or course he was, he had planned his life around his and Yue's relationship, but he was also relieved.

The first person he talked to about it was Katara.

"I don't even know why I'm not beat up about it." He ground out as he helped her carry buckets of water up to feed to the pumpkins in the vegetable garden.

"Maybe it's because you were ready to move on."

"What do you mean?" He tipped the bucket to allow the water to stream down the channels between the gourds.

"Well, what do you see as your next move? Where do you think you'll go next?"

"I'm not sure. I haven't really got a plan for my future."

"Can you see Yue in it? Would she fit in your plans?"

Sokka thought about Yue, how she had her career planned out: a well paying job as an actuary to afford a large house and then adopt several children and smother them in love and support. He thought of his own vague plans to become an artist and do what he enjoyed and seeing where that took him. He had always known that if he stayed with Yue, he would be sacrificing a lot of his own dreams, but that had been a trade-off he had been more than willing to make. But now that he was free to make his own decisions, regardless of Yue's own plans, he found himself drifting in a very different direction.

"No. I suppose she wouldn't."

"Can you see anyone else?"

Unbidden, Zuko's face floated into Sokka's stream of thought. "Maybe Zuko…" he said without meaning to, and instantly bit his tongue as though to take the words back, but the damage was done. Katara was looking at him with the traces of a smirk on her lips. Sokka groaned and lifted the almost empty bucket over his head, pouring the ice cold water down the back of his sweat-soaked t-shirt.

A few times over the summer, Sokka volunteered to pick up the groceries and deliver them to Gran-Gran's house, since she was shielding herself against the virus by completely self isolating. Once a week, one of the family members would take her shopping to her door, ring the doorbell, and then sit on the garden bench two metres away from the doorstep for a socially distanced chat. Gran-Gran had been very sad to hear that Sokka and Yue's relationship had ended, as she was very good friends with Yue's own grandmother, Yagoda. 

"So tell me who you're living with next year." She requested one afternoon in early August.

"Well, you remember Zuko, from last year?" She nodded. "I'm living with him again."

"That'll be nice for you. Anyone else?" 

"Yeah, there's also our friend Toph and their partner Haru."

"That's very nice. Now, is your friend Toph a boy or a girl?"

Sokka hesitated. This wasn't a conversation he'd been expecting to have, but he may as well, since he was here.

"Neither. They're actually not a boy or a girl."

Gran-Gran had been shocked, and Sokka had fumbled his way through an explanation of the terms "transgender" and "nonbinary". He had considered explaining the concept of a queer-platonic relationship as well, but since Gran-Gran hadn't ever met either Toph or Haru, he figured it was probably better not to try to explain everything at once.

Zuko was the first to move back to uni. They weren't able to move into their new house just yet, so he had stayed with Mai and Ty Lee until their move-in date. Toph had moved in almost immediately after, not wanting to stay in their parents home any longer than necessary. Haru had moved back third, warning the rest of them that he wasn't out to his parents so could they please call him by his deadname, he promised he didn't mind. 

And finally, a week before the semester was due to start, Sokka moved in. His dad offered to drive him down, and Sokka accepted gratefully, as he didn't have his own car and getting all his stuff down on his own would have been impossible.

When he finally arrived, the sight of Zuko standing at the door, ready to help carry his bags for him, and with a broad grin on his face, almost made Sokka drop his computer which he was holding. Fortunately, Zuko was there to catch it for him, since Sokka was busy drinking the sight of him in.

Sokka had got to grips with the fact that he was attracted to Zuko weeks ago. But that hadn't prepared him for actually being confronted with seeing the man for the first time after sorting his feelings out. Zuko was gorgeous. There was no other way to put it. His long hair was up in a messy bun to keep it out of his face, revealing his eyes, which were always intense, but held a softness in them when directed at Sokka which he usually only saw there when Zuko was feeding the ducks in the park or helping a turtle across the road. 

"Hey, Sokka, you gonna give us a hand with the rest of these or what?" Toph called from where they stood by the car, helping Haru balance a stack of books and videogames in his arms.

"Coming!" Sokka yelled back, hurrying to save his precious games.

Sokka should have been prepared for Toph and his dad to get along, but somehow, the sight of his tiny, goblin friend and his tall, poised father getting drunk together and listening to 80s punk was a strange mix of endearing and absolutely horrifying.

"But not everyone would take the shopping cart back! A lot of people just leave them all over the car park!" Toph was saying, gesturing expansively with a freshly rolled cigarette. "I wouldn't, I take the trolleys back."

"And that is why you are in the top one percent of thinkers." Hakoda proclaimed, taking another sip of his wine. Sokka looked from his dad to Zuko, who was grinning unabashedly at the exchange before them.

"Do you want to go hang out in the kitchen for a bit?" Sokka asked.

"Sure." Zuko got to his feet and offered a hand to Sokka to pull himself up. 

Zuko set about boiling water for tea while Sokka pulled himself up to sit on the counter and watch.

"What tea are you making?" He asked.

"Just chamomile. You've had a long journey and you must be tired. This will help you sleep."

"Thanks. I love you, man."

Zuko smiled. "I love you too."

It had taken Zuko a long time to be able to say that back. Sokka had never had a problem with expressing platonic love for his friends, and did so on a regular basis, but Zuko had grown up without hearing it even from his own father, so the first few times Sokka had told him he loved him he hadn't known how to respond. But now, hearing him say it back with no hesitation made Sokka's heart soar, and butterflies begin to flutter in his stomach.

It shouldn't have come as a surprise that Zuko hadn't seen the Princess Bride, but Sokka still took it as a personal insult.

"It's a classic! It's the best film ever made." He proclaimed, tossing blankets and pillows onto the sofa and building a blanket fort in front of the TV.

They ended up playing a drinking game, the four of them cuddled up together on the couch, taking a shot every time Inigo Montoya announced his revenge mission, anyone said the phrase "true love", or Sokka quoted along with the movie. About three quarters of the way through, though, Toph fell asleep, and Haru carried them to bed and stayed to make sure they were okay and didn't die in the night. That left just Sokka and Zuko, curled up in a blanket nest, and both pleasantly tipsy.

For a long time, they just stayed like that, comfortably pressed up against each other, Zuko under Sokka's arm and tight against his side. If Sokka turned his head a little, he could have pressed a light kiss to the crown of Zuko's head.

"Are you alright?" Zuko asked, in a soft voice.

"Yeah, are you?"

Zuko turned his head up to smile at Sokka, and Sokka tried to smile back, but then his eyes met Zuko's and he knew he was lost.

Zuko's eyes were golden, the purest colour he had ever seen before, but there were darker colours in there too, little flecks of brown and green that only added to the gold, making it almost more intense, like a rainbow of fire. And Zuko's pupils were blown wide, so wide that Sokka could only see a thin ring of gold around them. Sokka stared into the depths of Zuko's soul for what felt like minutes, hours, days. And then, treacherously, his eyes flicked downwards. Zuko's lips were pink, they looked dry, but soft. Sokka only saw for a moment, before his eyes moved back upwards to look at Zuko's once more, but he saw movement there as well, as though Zuko had mirrored his own path of observation. Sokka drew in a deep breath and held it. This was it. It was now or never.

"Can I kiss you?" He breathed.

Zuko smiled. "Yes." 

And then they were kissing.

It was wet, and a little over eager, and they both tasted of alcohol, but Sokka couldn't care less. Zuko was everything he could think, everything he could see, hear, touch, smell, taste, Zuko, Zuko, Zuko. He realised he was probably shaking with adrenaline but he didn't care. 

One hand reached up to cup the unscarred side of Zuko's face, and as he brushed his thumb over his ear, the other boy let out a shuddering gasp and opened his mouth, Sokka took the opportunity to slide his tongue in between Zuko's lips, and Zuko let out a surprised sound, but not an unhappy one, so Sokka slipped his tongue over Zuko's teeth and brushed against the roof of his mouth. Zuko moaned. 

Sokka sat back with a breathy laugh, and Zuko frowned, reaching for him, and really, who was Sokka to say no to that? He leaned down once again, pulled Zuko towards him and kissed him again.

Later that night, they both lay in Zuko's bed, facing one another and talking, their hands linked between them.

"When did you first realise that you liked me?" Zuko asked, coyly.

"I'm not really sure exactly, but I think it was before me and Yue broke up."

Zuko withdrew a little, a frown on his face. "I'm sorry…"

"No, I didn't mean- that's not why we broke up. If I'm being honest with myself, this has been coming for a long time. I'm not upset about it, it was the right time for us to break up, and I'm okay."

"Good. I don't want you to rush into this before you're ready for it."

"I'm not, trust me. I've actually thought about this quite a lot over lockdown. I was planning to wait a few more weeks to make my move, in case you weren't ready. I know you haven't really done anything like this before, and I really didn't want to mess it up. I guess alcohol really is useful for some things though!" Then Sokka frowned. "What do you mean 'rush into this'? We should probably talk about that as well." He squeezed Zuko's hand gently.

"What do you want from this?" Zuko asked, shyly.

"Well, I don't know about you, but to me this feels like something more than just a hookup. If it's okay with you, I'd really like to be able to call you my boyfriend."

Zuko blushed. "I think I'd like that too."

"Okay." Sokka smiled and leaned forward to kiss his boyfriend. Yeah, he supposed he really had to thank Coronavirus for this one.

**Author's Note:**

> Notable things in this that actually happened:
> 
> 1- my gf really did send me a teabag and a tiny origami dragon  
> 2- she also made sourdough crumpets. v tasty, would recommend  
> 3- my dad and my housemate really did have that conversation about shopping trolleys. no i have no further explanation  
> 4- jelly shots are so good tho wtf  
> 5- i did overwater my slushie cup succulents :( they are okay now though!
> 
> Follow me on [tumblr](https://the-boys-from-ba-sing-se.tumblr.com/) for podfics, a;tla nonsense and rambling!


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